"Did you have sex with him, Ginger?"

"Many times." This was said without a hint of emotion. "I was his favorite."

Sam recalled Lind's hulking size and tried to picture him with petite Ginger. The image made her sick. "Did he pay to have sex with you?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask Bruce about that. If he did, I never saw any of the money."

"Was he nice to you?"

"Nicer than most of them."

"There were a lot?"

"Six or seven a day on a slow day."

Freddie gasped and then cleared his throat to cover it.

"Have you had medical attention at all?"

"No."

Sam felt her composure wavering, but fought through the urge to punch something-or someone. "Did Rick have any visitors while you were with him?"

"Just one."

"Do you know who it was?"

"I don't know her name, but she has long blond hair. She was angry, and he asked me to leave so he could talk to her."

"Are you able to describe her in any more detail?" Sam realized that Ginger was most likely the second to last person to see Rick Lind alive.

"She was very pretty and skinny. Super skinny."

"You said she smelled rich," Amber reminded her friend.

"Right. She was wearing fancy perfume, and her clothes were expensive. Quality. I thought she might be his wife."

"Did he seem happy to see her?"

"No, he was mad she was there. He told her he had nothing to say to her. She said she had plenty to say to him."

"Had you seen her before?"

"Once. She came to the hotel earlier in the summer. He'd had another bad game, and I heard her yelling at him. And then I heard them having sex."

"How did you hear that?"

"I was in the room next door with another guy. The walls are really thin. I could hear them."

"Can you tell me what she was saying to him?"

"It was a long time ago, but I remember because she was so mean to him. She said she pays him to win, and she can't afford to lose. That everything was riding on this season."

"Could you hear what he said?"

"Not clearly. His voice was a low rumble. She was screaming though."

Sam got up and went to the murder board to remove the photo of Willie in his uniform. "Have you seen this man before?"

Ginger studied the photo.

"I have," Amber said softly. "He was a regular of mine."

Sam had to fight to keep her expression neutral. "When was the last time you saw him?" she asked.

"The other night after the game."

"How long were you with him?"

"A couple of hours, but then he said he had to go home. He never spent the night."

"Did he say anything about what had happened at the game?"

Amber shook her head. "He wasn't there to talk."

Sam expelled a deep breath as she pushed yellow pads across the table to them. "Will you please write down anything you can tell me about either man? How often they visited the motel, what they might've said or done, what kind of sex they liked to have. No detail is too small."

Amber glanced at Ginger, who nodded and handed her friend a pen.

"While you're working on that, I'd like to contact your families. Is there anything you can tell us that would help us to find them?"

"I was abducted from a mall in Columbia, Maryland three years ago," Ginger said bluntly. "My parents are Justin and Deanna Moreland." She recited the phone number in a clear, calm voice.

"That's how I know you," Sam said, putting the pieces together. "Your parents have never stopped looking for you. They recently distributed a photo of what you might look like today, and it was spot-on."

"They're looking for me?" Ginger whispered, her chin quivering.

"They've never stopped. Your abduction was big news."

Tears rolled down her face. She swept them away, almost as if she was annoyed with herself for the emotional reaction.

"Do you remember your family, Amber?"

"I'm from Massapequa on Long Island. I got separated from my mom at a bus station in the city when I was nine, and they took me. My mom is Allison Tattorelli. People call her Alli."

"Do you remember her phone number?"

"I remember it started with 516, but I can't remember the rest."

"We'll find her, honey," Sam said, her heart breaking for the girls and their families and the ordeal they'd endured. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Detective Cruz will be here if you need anything."

She got up and left the conference room, shutting the door behind her. In her office, she dropped into the chair behind her desk and took a moment to get her emotions in check before she called Ginger's parents. It was a phone call she couldn't wait to make but also dreaded at the same time.

Gonzo and Hill appeared at her door.

"Everything okay?" Gonzo asked.

"The girls we brought in from the motel were abducted years ago."

"Oh, God," Gonzo said. "What can I do to help?"

Sam handed him the paper on which she'd written down the information about Amber's mother. "Can you find me a number for Allison Tattorelli in Massapequa, New York?"

He took the paper. "I'm on it."

"What can I do?" Hill asked.

"Find me a connection between the Capitol Motor Inn and Elle Kopelsman. One of the girls was able to put her with Lind before he was killed. The other one was probably the last to see Willie alive."

"He was there too?"

"He was a regular, just like Lind. Anything on the financials for Elle or Ray?"

"Nothing that stands out, but it's a complicated maze. You were right about one thing."

"What's that?"

"The paper is hanging by a thread, and it's dragging the rest of the family's holdings down with it."

"She would've been desperate to protect her father's legacy. She would've gone to any lengths to keep what he left her." Sam's spine tingled with the feeling she got whenever she was on to something. Everything was leading back to Elle Kopelsman Jestings.

"How would killing the ballplayers who lost the game for the team protect her father's legacy?"

"It wouldn't," Sam said, more certain by the second that she was right about this. "But she would've been infuriated that they lost a game they should've won. She needed that win more than anyone else, and she would've blamed them for letting it get away." Sam snapped her fingers. "The goons!"

"What?" Hill asked, startled by the shift in conversation.

"The bodyguards helped her," Sam said, hearing clicking noises as the pieces began to fit together. "We've been looking for Willie's car on video from the wrong part of town. I've got to make a phone call, and then we need to go have a conversation with your friend Elle. Can you find out where she is tonight?"

"Yeah. I'll take advantage of my lifelong friendship with her husband to get that info for you."

"If you'd rather not, I'd be happy to call him."

"I'll do it."

When she was alone, Sam took another deep breath and dialed the number Ginger had given her. The phone rang five times before a woman answered. When her eyes filled with tears, Sam closed them, determined to get through this as unemotionally as possible. "Mrs. Moreland?"

"Yes, it is."

"This is Lieutenant Sam Holland, Metro Police Department in Washington, D.C. We've found your daughter."

The next two hours would forever go down as some of the most satisfying hours of Sam's career. Justin and Deanna Moreland arrived fifty-seven minutes after Sam called them, and their reunion with their daughter was full of tears and hugs and the kind of overwhelming joy that Sam didn't often get to experience as a homicide detective.

Their joy brought her to tears more than once, but she made no attempt to hide them because everyone around her was in the same state. Even the formidable Agent Hill had wiped away a tear or two while watching the reunion of parents with the child they'd feared lost forever.

Ginger's tough outer facade crumbled the second her mother walked into the room, and she couldn't seem to stop hugging both her parents.

"I found Amber's mother," Hill said, drawing Sam's attention away from the drama unfolding in the conference room. He handed her a piece of paper.

"Thanks." Sam wiped her eyes, took a deep breath to calm her emotions and went into her office to call yet another parent who'd waited years to hear this news.

Like the Morelands before her, Alli screamed when Sam relayed the news and managed to stop crying long enough to tell Sam she was leaving right away to come to Washington.

Since she was looking at a long, late night at work, Sam called home while she had the chance.

"Hi there," Shelby said. "How's it going?"

"It's turned into an amazing day around here."

"How so?"

Sam filled her in on what'd happened at the motel and the reunions taking place between the missing kids and their heartbroken parents.

"Oh, Sam, oh my goodness! How wonderful!"

"Needless to say, I'm going to be here a while. If you need to leave, Scotty can have a sleepover at my dad's."

"I've got nothing going on tonight. I'm happy to stay here. Don't worry about us. We're just fine."

Sam nearly sagged with the overwhelming relief of having someone she trusted to help with Scotty. "I really appreciate it. I hope you know that."

"Of course I do. It's my pleasure to spend time with him. I suspect I love him almost as much as you do."

"He's pretty easy to love. Could I talk to him?"

"Sure, let me see if he's out of the shower yet. He talked me into pizza for dinner in exchange for taking his shower earlier than usual."

"You're a shrewd negotiator."

"I'm learning. Scotty, Sam is on the phone and wants to talk to you. Here he is."

"Hi, Sam, did you catch the bad guy yet?"

"Not quite yet, but we think we know who it is. I'll tell you all about it when I see you in the morning."

"I still get to go with Mrs. L tomorrow right?"